article · Agriculture & Food Security
Soil acidity and low nutrient availability restrict faba bean yields in the Ethiopian highlands. A field trial conducted in Lay Gayint District examined the effects of lime, mineral phosphorus, farmyard manure, compost, and rhizobium across twenty sole and combined treatments. Results showed that applying 4 tonnes of farmyard manure, 15 kilograms of phosphorus, and 7.2 tonnes of lime per hectare increased faba bean grain yield by 102 percent over the control, alongside raising nodule count and dry weight. The combination of 8 tonnes of farmyard manure, 30 kilograms of phosphorus, and 3.6 tonnes of lime per hectare yielded the highest plant height, branch numbers, and biological yield. When applied individually, farmyard manure at 8 tonnes per hectare performed better than other sole inputs. Integrated soil management combining manure, mineral phosphorus, and lime effectively enhances crop productivity in these acidic soils.
Highly acidic soils limit nutrient availability and crop performance across highland farming systems. Demonstrating that combined organic and inorganic amendments double faba bean yields offers a practical agronomic strategy to restore soil fertility. This helps local growers boost legume production and improves food security in regions constrained by strongly acid soils.
The findings provide an applied, field-tested agronomic recipe directly relevant to smallholder farmers and agricultural extension programmes in acid-soil highlands. Because the research relied on existing, accessible inputs such as agricultural lime, mineral phosphorus, and farmyard manure, the amendment combinations are ready for immediate local adoption and dissemination without requiring specialised industrial development.
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Soil acidity with associated low nutrient availability is one of the major constraints to faba bean (Vicia faba L.) production on Ethiopian highlands. Integrated use of organic and inorganic amendments is believed to reduce soil acidity and improve crop production. Therefore, this field experiment was conducted with the objective of evaluating the effects of lime, mineral P, farmyard manure (FYM), compost and rhizobium in acid soil of Lay Gayint District, northwestern highlands of Ethiopia, in 2016–2017 main cropping season. The experiment comprised twenty sole and combined treatments arranged in a completely randomized block design with three replications. Combined application of 8 t FYM ha−1 + 30 kg P ha−1 + 3.6 t lime ha−1 significantly (P < 0.05) increased plant height, number of leaves and branches per plant, pod length, biological and straw yields. Grain per pod, grain yield and thousand grain weight were significantly (P < 0.05) increased with the application of 4 t FYM ha−1 + 15 kg P ha−1 + 7.2 t lime ha−1. This treatment resulted in 102% grain yield advantage over the control. The next higher grain yield advantage of 89% was achieved with 4 t FYM ha−1 + 15 kg P ha−1 + 3.6 t lime ha−1. Nodule number and nodule dry weight per plant were also improved due to 4 t FYM ha−1 + 15 kg P ha−1 + 7.2 t lime ha−1 application. Among sole treatments applied separately, 8 t FYM ha−1 was observed to be superior in all parameters considered followed by 7.2 t lime ha−1. Combined application of 4 t FYM ha−1 + 15 kg P ha−1 + 3.2 t lime ha−1 could be suggested as effective amendment to improve the yield of faba bean and therefore contribute the effort to insure food security in strongly acid soils of the study area.
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DOI: 10.1186/s40066-018-0168-2
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